Calcutta, May 12: The celebrated Herzog& de Meuron will create a museum of modern art in Calcutta, thefirst project to be taken up by a world-class architect in India sinceLe Corbusier agreed to build Chandigarh half a century ago.

TheBasel-based Herzog & de Meuron, which built the Tate Modern inLondon and the Beijing Olympic stadium, will erect the Kolkata Museumof Modern Art {KMOMA} in New Town Rajarhat.

Anagreement was signed this evening between the trustees of KMOMA andHarry Gugger, partner, Herzog & de Meuron, who will head theCalcutta project estimated to cost $50 million {over Rs 200 crore}.Delhi-based architect S.K. Das will execute the project, and Gugger,who had earlier described his firm as a “control freak”, will oversee.Gugger will be assisted by Edmun Choy.

Gugger,who has received the Meret Oppenheim prize and has been a professor atEPF Lausanne since 2005, said after the ceremonies that he would havepreferred to work in the city itself “to redirect the energy to the oldtown and its heritage”, but that, he added, was “politicallyimpossible”.

He regretted that cities were losing their “specificness”, which wasbeing steamrollered by “Americanisation”. It was important to be globalbut it was equally important not to lose sight of the local. However,Gugger conceded that the challenge before them was whether they couldturn the museum into a landmark in New Town. He stressed that themuseum should be “Kolkata-specific”.

Herzog& de Meuron, Gugger said earlier in the day, has no signature styleand creates designs minuscule and mammoth depending on people’s andusers’ needs. “We are really hands-on in execution. We are lucky thatthe situation abroad triggers new ideas. Cultures are different and theclimate here is one of the parameters.”

He recounted how a sheikh in Abu Dhabi had commissioned the firm to design a mosque that was already being built.

"Thedesign we proposed was very nice. But it was not implemented. Somehow,we did not understand the culture of negotiation in that country. So,now we have a cultural ambassador."

InBeijing, the company had Uli Sigg, the former ambassador ofSwitzerland, and Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who told them "what weshould do to be understood in China".

TheKMOMA trust was set up in 2003 and the venture was meant to involve thestate and the central government and the private sector. The stategovernment has allotted Rs 135 crore, including the 10-acre Rajarhatplot, for the project. Dilip Kumar Chakraborty, the principal secretaryto the department of information and cultural affairs in the state, haspromised all government support.

RakhiSarkar, the managing trustee of KMOMA, said the Indian modern artmovement was bo
www.telegraphindia.com/1080513/jsp/frontpage/story_9263808.jsp